Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to the Middle East today to salvage what she can of a peace strategy for Barack Obama as Israeli leaders brace for a new U.S. administration that may push harder for concessions. The Bush administration abandoned the goal of reaching a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians on its watch yesterday, saying Rice is going to lay the groundwork for her successor. President-elect Obama has pledged to be actively involved in negotiations. ``There could be more pressure on Israel to take more risks, like removing security checkpoints in the West Bank,'' said Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv. Rice and President George W. Bush aim to preserve talks they revived almost a year ago at a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to reach the goal of a separate Palestinian state. The hope of an immediate resolution was dashed when Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni failed last month to form a coalition government and called for national elections. The need for elections in Israel, due in February, ``greatly complicates'' the idea of reaching a Middle East peace accord before the administration hands over to Obama on Jan. 20, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday. Rice is due to arrive today in Israel and the West Bank, with stops for further talks in Amman, Jordan, and Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt. `Going Forward' ``We're going to try to put this process in the best possible place going forward so that whoever comes next can formulate their policies, take a look at the process and possibly use it and take it further,'' McCormack told reporters in Washington before Rice left. Livni is seeking to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who quit and is trying to clear himself of corruption allegations. Olmert, 63, may remain as a caretaker leader for another four months before a new government is elected. Rice is making her eighth trip to the region since Annapolis, a conference that gathered the two sides along with Arab leaders and European officials in a push to provide added support to the diplomacy. While the formal talks stalled, regular meetings were held between leaders of the two sides. The most contentious issues, such as the status of Jerusalem, remained unresolved. While Israel claims the ancient city -- holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews -- as its undivided capital, the Palestinians would like to establish their capital in the eastern part of the city. Palestinian Split While Obama has promised greater engagement in the search for peace in that region, the division among the Palestinians and the unsettled political picture in Israel may force him to wait. The Palestinian Authority leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas has been weakened by the continued split with the militant Islamic Hamas movement, which wrested the Gaza Strip from his control in June last year. The U.S. has put personnel and money into efforts to improve security and economic conditions in the West Bank and help rebuild governing institutions there to take over eventually, McCormack said. That investment should ``have great value going forward,'' he said. When Obama visited Israel in July, he said he wouldn't wait ``until a few years into my term or my second term'' to get the Israeli-Palestinian peace process moving. Refugees Issue He has said Israel will have to make concessions if it wants to reach an agreement with the Palestinians over the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the borders of an independent Palestinian state. The refugees are those who lost their homes in the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict and ended up in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, according to the United Nations. ``Israel will have some heavy stones to carry,'' Obama said in remarks to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington in May. In Israel, opinion polls show Livni and Likud opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a tight race. A poll in the Haaretz newspaper on Oct. 31 showed Likud and Livni's Kadima party winning 31 seats each in the 120-seat parliament. Obama's dealings with Netanyahu probably would be frostier than with Livni. The Likud leader, informally known as Bibi, opposed Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and is against talking to the Palestinians about Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital. Obama, Netanyahu ``There's a good chance that relations between Obama and Bibi will not be healthy,'' said Roni Bart, a research fellow at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies. Livni would enjoy a smoother rapport because of her ``more moderate'' views, he said. Through spokesman Yossi Levy, Netanyahu said of Obama that ``I am certain that we will work together to bring about peace, security and prosperity to the region.'' Livni strongly supported Israel's exit from Gaza in August 2005 and as foreign minister has been responsible for negotiations with the Palestinians over a comprehensive peace agreement. Livni said yesterday that Israel hoped for ``close ongoing strategic consideration with the new administration.'' Speaking of Obama's July visit, she said in an e-mailed statement: ``The Israeli people were impressed with his commitment to the peace and security of Israel.''
